Forget the past, look forward to what lies ahead

Philippians 3:13-14 (NLT)

I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.  I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 

To begin a new year with a fresh start, let’s focus carefully on the action words of these two verses -- focus, forgetting, looking forward, press on, and receive.

Focus

Paul makes is clear that his focus is on one thing—forgetting the past and looking forward to the future.  How much pain and torment would this attitude eliminate in your life if you really practiced it?  The past is over, forget it!  The future holds our hope, reach for it! 

Forgetting

What you are to forget are your past failures, bad choices, heartaches, and injustices.  Living constantly with regrets about your past, grieving over bad choices and failures and not being able to forgive and forget who hurt you, even years ago, unnecessarily punish and handicap you from being who Christ wants you to be now.  For example, how many failed marriages leave people with terrible memories that they seemingly can never get over?  How many people live daily with memories of how they were mistreated in the past by a parent, teacher, boss, friend, acquaintance, or even a stranger?   God’s command here is literally to forget in deference to something else.  There is something more important in your life than your past.  You need to forget and to move on.  How many times have you heard someone say or even you have said it, “I will forgive but never forget”?  Well, not forgetting is violating this edict from Philippians 3:13.  Christ is your model and aren’t you relieved that He forgets your offenses to Him in your past?  You are to do the same.  Not only are you to forget your own past, but you also are to forget past failures of others. Forgetting the past does not mean that you have to forget past good memories (why else then would you take photographs?).  However, for some people, living in the past because of those good memories can also be a detriment.  That is, past good memories sometimes so depress you because they are gone that you cannot bear to move forward.  In this case, Paul’s admonition applies.  

Looking forward

Someone once said, “The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.”  The best of your life is ahead; do you believe this?  If not, you are not yet a spirit-filled person.  A spiritually-dynamic person always believes that the best times and years are coming, not past and gone.  Actually, the original Greek word here is “reaching forth” that conveys the imagery of a sprinter lunging forward at the end of a race.  You are to “reach forth” in this life; you do not “reach forth” for eternity.  You are to run the race to end it triumphantly here on earth before you receive the heavenly prize. 

Press on

"Press on" in the Greek expresses the idea of pursuit after or follow earnestly. The great analogy here is the marathon runner who keeps his/her eye on the finish line and nothing will distract from achieving the goal.  How would you describe your pursuit after the spiritual goal that God has set before you?  You might still be at the starting line because either you have not yet been saved in Christ or you have given your life to Christ, but not yet started the race.  You might be someone who got off to a good start, but have been floundering lately or for a long while.  You might be someone who is walking or jogging and not yet racing.  Or, hopefully, you are running the race as best you can and are experiencing the joys of a person who knows where he/she stands with Christ and knows that you will finish the race in excellent shape.  Anything less that running the race will deflect you from finishing the race of life victoriously.       

Receive

What is received?  The heavenly prize that God through Christ is calling you.  And what is the heavenly prize?  The word “prize” means “wreath or crown”.  The original readers of these words were well aware of the bestowing of a wreath upon the head of the winner of public games.  The wreath also gave the victor not only public affirmation and praise, but also, practically, no longer had to pay taxes. Perhaps the best prize you could receive is to hear from the Lord at the end, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things" (Matthew 25:21).  Those who hear these words are those who have lived their lives centered on the glorification of God through Christ. This prize is received in heaven.  You do not receive the prize anytime prior.  That’s what makes life on earth a little bit harder because we do not see what that prize really is. Yet in faith (the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen) you are to live your life by (1) forgetting the past, (2) looking forward and pressing on and (3) to finish the race victoriously through all you do with your life to love God and love others as yourself.